


Actions and Consequences

by Oceanee



Category: La casa de papel | Money Heist (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Continuation, Drama, F/M, Rating: M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:28:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22020316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oceanee/pseuds/Oceanee
Summary: In the aftermath of her capture by her former colleagues, Raquel Murillo finds herself alone to face her fate. Fearing for Sergio's life and for her team's safety, she must outwit the police and find her way back to him before it's too late.
Relationships: Raquel Murillo/Professor | Sergio Marquina
Comments: 17
Kudos: 39





	Actions and Consequences

“You may learn much more from a game you lose than from a game you win. You will have to lose hundreds of games before becoming a good player.” – José Raúl Capablanca

_\- Somewhere in Southern Spain - Present_

Her mind still reeling with the unforeseen developments of the last few minutes, Raquel numbly let Suarez pull her to her feet and handcuff her. She could distantly hear him talk, his harsh tone almost breaking through the heavy, suffocating fog surrounding her every thought – but not quite. Try as she might, she could not seem to calm her racing heart, or ignore the sound of her own blood rushing in her ears.

She didn’t make a sound as her shoulders were roughly pulled back and she was forcefully pushed out of the barn she had been hiding in just a moment ago. Before she could really process what was happening, the doors were open in front of her and she had to squint against the harsh sunlight suddenly reaching her pupils.

This had never been part of the plan, she thought as she started walking.

It was never mentioned once, not even in passing.

They had thought of everything, painstakingly taking every step of the plan apart until they knew it inside and out and were prepared for every eventuality. Yet somehow, they had not envisioned this scenario and it now seemed like an unforgivable oversight. For all the contingencies they had written into their many contingencies, it had never occurred to them to come up with some guidelines as to how to handle this.

Of course, they were not stupid. They had anticipated the possibility of each other’s demise. It had been a painful conversation and Sergio had been even more withdrawn for a couple of days after that, although he had been the one to bring up the topic. They had contemplated the chance of one of them being captured, too, and discussed which steps the other would take to set them free.

But they had not, in their wildest theories, thought that one of them would believe the other dead when they were not.

Raquel was well and truly on her own.

Her last conversation with Sergio kept replaying in her mind as she was being led to a police van, a few meters away. Everything around her seemed blurry and unfocused as she recalled his last words. His desperate plea for her to “ _get out of there_ ”. Swallowing thickly against the tears she felt rising, she attempted to will the painful memory away and tried to focus on what was going on. Her ears would not stop ringing; every sound and voice were both unbearably loud and strangely muffled, as if she was trying to listen to a conversation under water. There were dozens of uniformed police officers swarming around her, marching all over the farm grounds. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of them hold her belongings up for Suarez to see. She did not register his grunted response, but she did feel his hold on her arm tighten as they pulled a handful of cash out of her backpack.

Her sole thought at that moment was that if they found the climbing gear, it was only a matter of time before they put two and two together and started looking for the Professor up in the forest canopy.

Thinking about Sergio was painful, and she knew it would not help loosen the unbearable knot in her stomach, but Raquel’s treacherous mind couldn’t seem to stop. The strangled moan she had heard through her earpiece in between the two gunshots meant to fake her execution would fuel her nightmares for years to come, of that she had no doubt.

Before she could continue with that train of thought, Raquel was brusquely pushed into a seat in the back of the van and the door was slammed in her face, leaving her alone in sudden silence. The abrupt change of pace finally shook her out of her daze, and she took stock of her surroundings. The van was empty and dark, the only dim light coming through the few tinted, reinforced windows built into its sturdy frame. The metal seat was hard and cold against the back of her thighs. Resting her head against the wall behind her, she closed her eyes and took a slow, shaky breath, trying to will herself to calm down and turning her mind inwards.

Her heart was still hammering in her chest. Her breathing was shallow and any air she was able to draw into her lungs felt sharp, cold and painful. Her fingertips were numb, her legs were trembling, and she could feel cold sweat running down her back. She knew from experience that this was her body’s natural reaction to her brain releasing adrenaline into her bloodstream, trying to trigger her fight or flight response in the face of extreme stress. She had studied this, lived this, witnessed it happening to others too many times to count. Unfortunately, she could neither fight, nor flee, and her knowledge of the biological process did not make it any easier. She would have to ride this out and wait for the adrenaline to fade. Soon at least, cortisol would kick in, allowing her to calm down and think of a way out.

Until then, she would do the one thing she never thought she would have to do again after she left her years of abuse behind. She would slowly inhale through her nose, exhale through her mouth, clench and unclench her fists until she could regain control of her oxygen intake, so she could face the world again.

Picturing Paula’s smile and Sergio’s eyes, she allowed herself one sob, briefly giving into the icy feeling taking over her heart. Then she started breathing.

*******

_If this was really a mistake, he thought dazedly as her fingers tightened on the back of his shirt, it was the best damn mistake he’d ever made._

_They were drenched to the bone, their hair and clothes dripping saltwater everywhere and their bare feet tracking wet sand all over the freshly polished hardwood floor, yet Sergio couldn’t seem to care._

_They were just coming in from the beach right outside his house, but the short walk from the shallow waters to his living room had seemed interminable._

_Even though he had been thinking about this moment for a long, long year, he had not anticipated the urgency he would feel as soon as Raquel’s lips touched his again._

_When he had picked her up at her hotel earlier this afternoon, he hadn’t dared imagine that they would end up like this so quickly, limbs entangled and hands straining against soaked fabric in a mad rush to reach each other’s skin. She had requested that he give her a tour of the island today, wanting to see where he lived, and he had been happy to oblige. Their sightseeing adventure had been short lived, however. By sunset, they had somehow ended up in each other’s arms, fully clothed in the ocean and she had kissed him with the kind of intensity that spoke of months of unfulfilled longing._

_He certainly knew the feeling. Once the floodgates were open, it hadn’t taken much for him to deepen the kiss and match her fervour with his own._

_Things had escalated quickly from there, until they found themselves stumbling towards his couch, paying little mind to anything except each other._

_Raquel suddenly pulled away from him with a frustrated sigh, her focus shifting to the buttons of his shirt that she could not seem to be able to work out. He blinked, breathing heavily as he watched her brow furrow. “I don’t think I realized it would be so hard to get out of wet clothes”, she whispered breathlessly as she pulled harder at the fabric. Sergio just stared and nodded, unable to conjure up an answer through the haze of arousal. His hands tightened around her waist and he pulled her closer to him again. Raquel took his cue and let go of his shirt, choosing instead to wrap her arms around his neck and press her chest against his._

_He stifled a groan at the feeling and moved a hand to the back of her head to guide her lips back to his._

_He went to pull them both down towards the sofa, and only paused briefly to marvel at the woman in his arms when she reached under her dress to pull down her underwear and kick it away in one smooth move. He barely had time to react before she pushed him down onto the cushions and straddled him, her hands urgently working on his trousers. She let out a satisfied sigh when she successfully freed him from the sodden linen, then wasted no time rising onto her knees and guiding him to her entrance before slowly sinking onto him with a muted gasp. Overwhelmed by the sensation of finally being inside her, he let his hands fall below her waist, torn between wanting to urge her on and wanting this moment to never end._

_When she started moving, his world narrowed until all that mattered was the feel of her all around him as he held tight onto her hips. He reveled in the taste of the ocean on her skin and the way her white dress stuck to her body, emphasizing every delicious curve. He watched, mesmerized, as she moved against him and her every emotion played on her face with each thrust, reflecting his own. Passion, pleasure, giddy abandon and a hint of something else he didn’t dare name._

_He knew they both wouldn’t last long but none of it mattered. He bucked his hips into her, pushing faster and harder, until she cried out and tightened around him. Unable to resist the pressure any longer, he buried his face into her neck and let go with a groan. She collapsed onto him, holding him tight and he wrapped his arms around her as they both tried to catch their breath._

_When he felt her shake against his chest, he was briefly alarmed until he realized that she was laughing. A deep, relieved, belly laugh that made the corners of his own mouth twitch. When she pulled back to look at him and tenderly held his face in her hands, he saw the radiant smile on her lips as she looked into his eyes, and he started laughing with her._

_This moment, he thought. This moment, he wanted to remember._

*******

Sergio woke with a start, disoriented in the darkness. He blindly reached his arm out to his right, expecting to meet warm skin, but started when all he felt was hard, cold wood and hay. Reality came back to him in a painful rush and he sucked in a shaky breath.

There would be no more warm skin.

Raquel was gone.

Before he could stop them, the memories of the last time he heard her voice invaded his mind and he nearly lost himself in the agony of hearing the gun shots that ended her life once again.

This was something he hoped he would forget, one day, long after this was all over. When he would be left with nothing but solitude to reflect on the consequences of his mistakes. He would rather remember the sound of her laughter, the quiet way she hummed her favorite songs in the shower and how she would whisper his name against his skin in the darkness of their bedroom, when she fell apart in his arms.

Feeling his eyes start to burn, Sergio brought his hands to his face and rubbed them harshly, hoping to will the tears away. There would be time for crying, later. For now, he would have to ignore the gaping hole in his chest and the painful lump in his throat.

He took a few deep breaths, trying to regain control of his emotions, before sitting up silently. He hadn’t expected to fall asleep, but it seemed his body had eventually taken pity on his wretched soul, forcing him into an exhausted and fitful slumber. Allowing him a temporary escape from hours spent hiding from the police, his thoughts running in circles thinking about what ifs.

After… _her_ , he had found himself standing alone in the forest, unsure what to do or where to go, for once at a loss and unable to tap into the analytical part of his brain that should have pushed him into taking action to save himself. Ultimately, the thought of his responsibility towards the rest of the team had guided his feet towards the relative safety of an abandoned stable, a few hundred meters away. He had been surrounded and had quickly concluded that getting back to his hide out on the tree would not be an option. Once they had found Raquel’s gear, the police would have wasted no time jumping to the right conclusions and looking for him up in the branches. So instead he had opted to do what Raquel had done, and had found a place to hide, half expecting that he would be found but not entirely caring if he did.

He had a gun, and he would take whoever found him down with him. There would be no surrender for him, no pleas for clemency and no interrogations. If they found him, he would make them pay, and then would accept the inevitable consequence.

Welcome it, even.

But he hadn’t been found, at least not yet.

His breathing now somewhat under control, he ran a hand through his hair and looked around him. It was dark, now. Night had fallen and the world was silent, save for the sounds of crickets chirping in the field outside the stable. A sliver of light coming from the full moon outside allowed him to see his surroundings with some clarity and he pushed his glasses up his nose, determined to start moving. He could not stay here any longer. Looking at his watch, Sergio realised that Marseille must have made his way to the area by now.

Although every bone in his body ached and protested the movement, he rose to his feet and made his way to the door.

It was time to push Sergio down, and call the Professor to the front.

There was a war to be won.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you've enjoyed this at least half as much as I've enjoyed writing it. It has been some time since I've found inspiration to write anything and I have not attempted a multi-chapter fic in well over ten years. I apologize if my writing is a little rusty. English is not my first language (as I understand is the case for a lot of us here), so please forgive me if there are any typos or inconsistencies here and there.
> 
> The LCDP fandom and Serquel fans have all been so welcoming and wonderful. I don't believe I had ever had the pleasure of being part of such an open minded and supportive fandom! I look forward to being more of an active participant. :)


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